Tips for getting started with your heritage project

This year, National Heritage Week is all about getting as many people to enjoy heritage as possible. To help inspire you, we are encouraging you to consider three approaches: heritage newcomers; heritage sharing; and heritage for all ages. For more information on these approaches, visit the Organise a Project page on the website.

Choosing your topic

Your first step will be to decide on your focused topic. We recommend that you choose a topic a) that’s of interest to you, b) that would be of interest to others, and c) on which there’s sufficient information available to develop into a heritage project. Remember you can always take a project or research that you have already worked on and develop it further. Or you might like to use National Heritage Week to develop new ways to share previous work or reach new audiences.

Building your team

Once you have your topic, you will need to consider ‘who’s going to work on your project’? Do you have the time and skills to work on the project on your own, or will you need help? Consider the business mantra ‘you do what you do best, outsource the rest’ – in this case, ‘outsourcing’ could mean taking the opportunity to work with willing family members, friends, neighbours or members of your heritage group whose expertise would complement your skills. Teamwork might be particularly useful if showcasing your project involves learning new technical skills. When building your team, why not embrace the sentiment of National Heritage Week and consider how you could include ‘heritage newcomers’ as part of your project team.

Make a schedule – and stick to it.

Make sure to give your project a structure. Working backwards from when you need to submit your project, give yourself a start and end date. A timeline of key milestones that you need to meet along the way will keep you motivated and help you complete your project in time for National Heritage Week. If you’re working as a team, make sure to have a project leader, who will co-ordinate the work of the various team members and keep you on track. Don’t forget, project submissions will open on Wednesday, 16th June and the deadline for submissions is Monday, 30th August.

Do your research

Most projects will require some level of research. Before you start, have a think about what you would like to find out about your chosen topic and where you might find that information. Helpful questions to keep in mind when researching a project are the 4Ws and the 1H – who, where, why, when, what, and how? We have brought together some great research resources to help you during this stage. To explore these and to find other information to help you along the way register as a project organiser.

Sharing your project

Once you’ve chosen your topic, built your team, created a schedule and have planned your research, you will need to think about how you’re going to showcase your project on www.heritgeweek.ie – this will help you decide what format your project will take. At this stage, it will be important to consider: are there lots of pictures – would it look good in a report or a presentation?; are there people to speak to – would it make a good podcast or radio piece?; and is there a good mix of both – could you make a video or develop a website?

As you prepare for National Heritage Week we will be sharing more information, tips and resources to support you. All projects uploaded by 30th August will be considered for a National Heritage Week Award.